The Lord Jesus Christ and God
the Holy Spirit sometimes use the most unlikely people to declare
the most glorious gospel truths. Think about that for a moment.
The Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit sometimes uses
the most unlikely people to declare the most glorious gospel truths. And we ought not to be surprised
at that. The Jewish leaders said to the
Lord Jesus Christ, tell these people to stop shouting praises
to your name. And the Lord said, if they stopped,
the very stones would cry out. The very rocks of the earth would
cry out to the praise of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who would have imagined that
Caiaphas, that duplicious, that deceitful, that self-serving
religionist, who slew the Lord Jesus Christ
and schemed to have him taken and arrested and so brutally
treated, should declare from his own lips, it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole
nation perish not. He said it willingly. He said
it thoughtfully. He said it purposefully. He said
it because he believed that it was true. And he didn't know. the sheer depth of gospel majesty
that is in those words that he declared. There have been few
testimonies to the substitutionary atoning work of the Lord Jesus
Christ fallen from the lips of men as clear as those words that
were spoken by that man Caiaphas. or one of those who railed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. They said, he saved others. Let him save himself if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. He saved others. But he couldn't save himself
because he was the Christ, the chosen of God. And from their
lips came a testimony to his divine glory and his divine purpose
and that great work of salvation and deliverance and redemption
which he accomplished on behalf of his people. And then there
was Pilate's wife. Have thou nothing to do with
this just man. Don't get involved. This isn't
right. What is happening here is wrong.
I have suffered much this day. I have suffered much because
of this man. I don't know what that lady experienced
or endured in her mind, in her dreams, in her visions, but she
knew that Pilate was walking a dangerous path, having anything
to do with the hurt and with the judgment of this innocent,
just, holy, perfect man. For the man of Capernaum, with
the unclean spirit, let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, thou
holy one of God. Imagine these words falling from
the lips of an ignorant, sinful, wicked individual. Or that lady in Philippi, so
used and misused by her owners. That damsel that followed Paul
and Silas through the streets in Acts 16, crying out, these
men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us
the way of salvation. These men are the servants of
the Most High God, and they show unto us the way of salvation. Truly the Lord Jesus Christ and
God the Holy Spirit has caused wonderful gospel words to be
heard from the most unusual sources. And I think perhaps in the history
of the Old Testament, these examples came from the New, that Balaam,
whom we have read about this morning in Numbers chapter 22,
Balaam supplies a host of similar examples of truly wonderful testimony
to the glory of God's sovereign grace and covenant purpose. And yet the words were uttered
by a heathen soothsayer who spoke truth with his lips, but never
knew the truth in his heart. He spoke truth with his lips,
but he never knew truth in his heart. We're going to come back
to that in a little while. The story of Balaam fills three
chapters in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 22, 23 and 24. And there are lots in these chapters
that are amazing. We read chapter 22. I did wonder
whether we should simply take the time and read all three chapters
this morning, but I've chosen not to do that. I would encourage
you, if you have a few minutes and it won't take too long, read
these three chapters over in the coming week and your heart
will be amazed at the clarity and the insightfulness of these
words that Balaam spoke to the glory of God. There's lots that's
amazing in these three chapters, from the fact that this reprobate
had such a spiritual insight, to the fact that an animal spoke and that God's jealous passion
for the deliverance and well-being of his people and the glory of
his name overrides everything that sinful men desire to do
to the heart of his flock and his people. The period that is
before us here is a period in the history of Israel as they
had come through the wilderness, having escaped out of Egypt at
the time of the Exodus, having travelled through the wilderness
for decades. 40 years. And now they are on
the border of Canaan. They are on the border of the
promised land. And at the beginning of chapter
22, we saw there that they pitched in the plains of Moab. So they
are living amongst the Moabites. And there are also other people
there called the Midianites. They have recently spent time
in the land of the Amorites. But they are looking over the
river into the land of the Canaanites, the promised land. And they pitched
this side of Jordan by Jericho. So soon they will cross the Jordan
and go into the promised land. There will be battles to be fought.
But at the moment, they are this side of Jordan. What we see here is the children
of Israel preparing to enter into the promised land. We know
that Moses is late in his life. He's not going to live for very
much longer. He will not be permitted to enter
into the promised land. The people are living amongst
the Moabites. And Balak, the king of the Moabites,
is fearful because he has seen what they have already done to
the Amorites and the people of the land that they have traveled
through. And so he calls for Balaam. And suddenly Balaam appears.
He's from the land of Mesopotamia. And he suddenly appears on the
pages of our scripture as it were out of nowhere. But he's
a soothsayer and he is known to be a man who for money will
curse your enemies. And he is known to be a man whose
curses work. So Balak decides that he will
call Balaam and he will employ Balaam and he will get him to
curse Israel, so that having been cursed and afflicted by
some natural disaster, he will then be able to rise up with
his military force and destroy the children of Israel. And Balaam, he desires to do
what Balak wants him to do. He wants to curse Israel and
he wants the wealth that Balak promises him for doing so. But the Lord Jesus Christ intervenes. Now we could say much about Balaam's
call from Balak that we read in chapter 22. and how the Lord
dealt with Balaam as he travelled there into the land of the Moabites
in order to speak to Balak. But what I want to just touch
upon and draw your attention to is the fact that the angel
of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. The Lord was aware even although
there was no communication to the Israelites as to what was
happening here. This was all done deviously. This was all done in secret.
This was all done by Balak and the princes of the Midianites
and Balaam in order to curse the Israelites. But the Lord
was at work, even although the Israelites were completely unaware
of what was going on. And the Lord stood In the gap,
in the narrow way, sword drawn, ready to slay this man because
he desired to curse the children of Israel. The lesson appears to be, and
in a sense I'm going to just encapsulate the whole of chapter
22 in this little sentence or two. But the lesson appears to
be that the Lord constrained Balaam until that wicked man
had nowhere else to turn but to go and do what the Lord
had told him to do. Balaam was full of wonder and
rightly he should have been an animal that talks the manifestation
of the angel of the Lord whom for the sake of clarity I believe
to have been the Lord Jesus Christ himself in a pre-incarnation
manifestation, we see this often in the Old Testament that Christ
makes these appearances, and this I think is one of them,
that he speaks here to Balaam, and Balaam is fearful. He's fearful
of the imminent destruction that is warned against him, and his
fear causes him to comply with the will of the Lord. But notice
this, that it is an enforced subjection. It is not a willing
obedience out of gratitude or thanksgiving or honor to the
Lord, but because he has a fear of the power of God and the retribution
that is about to fall upon him. The Word of God tells us in Romans
chapter 14 and verse 11 that every knee will bow to God. Every knee will bow to God. But let us not assume that every
knee that bows worships God. Let us not assume that every
knee that bows honors God. Or every knee that bows is thankful
to God for salvation. Now that knee will be taken and
that knee will be forced down. And they will honor the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they will honor Almighty
God, the wicked men and women of this world. But they will
not do it out of gratitude and thanksgiving. They will do it
out of fear of retribution and judgment. Balaam is a picture of a false
prophet. He's the picture for us today
of a mercenary preacher and a mercenary teacher. The desire of Balaam
was personal benefit and he used the name of God. Oh, he did.
He used the name of God and he used the practice of religion
and he used the gullibility of the Moabites. to enrich and to
enhance himself. If you had watched Balaam sacrificing
on the mountaintop, if you had heard him speaking, if you had
observed the religious talk and the religious practice, then
you'd think he was a genuine follower of God. You would think
he was. And you'd be wrong. I try to make it a practice not
to speak negatively of others, especially when there's so much
positive in the gospel to speak about. But Balaam is a warning
to us. Balaam is a warning. Not all
that glitters is gold. Not everyone who prays is a Christian. Not everyone who says that they
worship the Lord Jesus Christ and sing, praise my soul, the
King of heaven, knows the King of heaven or praises the King
of heaven with their soul. Just because someone speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't make that person your brother. or sister in the Lord Jesus Christ. And false religion takes many
forms. And what is most dangerous to
a soul is what appears most similar in content and practice to the
true gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. What is closest
to the truth is most dangerous to your soul. And the devil has
had centuries to massage and to alter and to change the lie
into something that looks so much like the truth that if you
were standing there watching Balaam, you would say, brother,
and embrace him, and you'd be wrong. The Lord Jesus Christ says that
the way of salvation is a narrow way and few there be that find
it. And some might not like this
emphasis, but I say it anyway. If these Christians who use the
language of Zion, who practice their religious practices, who
offer their worship upon the altars of their own making. If these modern-day equivalents
to Balaam and Balak gather together and use religious words and spiritual
ideas in their worship, if these people are not believers. What is it that distinguishes
them from the true believer? Well, I'll tell you this. I'll
tell you exactly what it is. They're not worshipping with
us. They're not worshipping with
us. They're separated from us. They don't join with us. and
we can't join with them. If Balaam was worshipping the
true God, what was he doing standing at the top of the mountain with
Balak when he should have been down amongst the children of
Israel under Moses' authority, the man that God had placed there
as the leader and revealer of him to the people? Why are we
not in fellowship with them? Why are we separated with them? I wonder how these three chapters
come to be in the Bible. I don't have an answer to you.
Here's another answer that I don't have. I've got a great big pile
of questions that I don't have answers to. But I wonder how
these come to be in the Bible. How did Moses know What transpired
on those mountaintops between Balak and Balaam? How did he
know that he could write it down in this book? Who told him? Now perhaps it was someone who
was present and observed it and heard it all. Maybe in time to
come that person did speak to Moses in some capacity and Moses
learned about Balaam's activities. or maybe it was just immediate
Holy Spirit revelation. But the point is this, what was
happening there high in the mountains above the encamped Israelite
people when Balak urged Balaam to curse these people that he
might in turn destroy them, was something that happened totally
oblivious to the children of Israel. Think about that. We have enemies in this world.
We fight not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual
principalities, against wickedness in high places. And the wonder
is that we often don't even know the nature or the extent or the
opponents that we have and yet the Lord Jesus Christ is himself
our shield and our defender. He goes to battle for us against
the devious wiles of our enemy. Balaam said some amazing things,
things that ought to rejoice the heart of every true child
of God, but he wasn't in the camp of the Israelites. He had
insights. He had revelations. He spoke
genuine gospel truth. But a true man of God would have
been with the people of God. I'm going to have a look at some
of these declarations. There are four of them. These
declarations that Balaam spoke And I simply want to take one
thought out of each of the four and draw it to your attention.
There's so much more in there. And as I say, read it for yourself
at your leisure this week. Balak wanted Balaam to curse
Israel. But what we discover is that
his efforts backfired. He said to Balaam, come, come. Curse me, Jacob, and come, defy
Israel. But Balaam couldn't do it. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
had constrained him. The Lord had appeared to him
with a drawn sword and showed him the price, the cost. And
Balaam was a man who, he could understand values, He knew the
difference between a whole house full of gold and silver and his
own mortality. And he knew the price of accepting
Balak's bribe. So in Numbers chapter 23, in
verse 8, he says, How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or
how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? And we see the way as the chapter
unfolds that Balak responds to Balaam. And he says, what hast
thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies,
and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether. Here are the
four things then that we read. Look with me at verse seven of
chapter 23. Verse seven of chapter 23. This
is the first thing that Balaam said. So Balak takes him up to
the top of a mountain. He says, look, there's all the
people. Now curse them. And they make some altars and
they go through some religious hocus pocus. And Balaam, he's
a smart guy, Balaam. He goes away by himself in order
to get a little bit of quiet time where God is supposed to
be speaking to him. And then he comes back. And this
is what he says. Verse seven. And he took up his
parable and said, Balak, the king of Moab, hath brought me
from Aram out of the mountains of the east, saying, come, curse
me, Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse whom God hath
not cursed? How shall I defy whom the Lord
hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks
I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Lo, the people
shall dwell alone. and shall not be reckoned among
the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob
and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the
death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. Well, here's my one thought from
these verses, and there's so much more, but time constrains. He says in verse nine, lo, the
people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned amongst
the nations. We understand these passages
not simply as applying to Israel, but to have their fullest meaning
in the context of spiritual Israel. That is the church of Jesus Christ. And here in Balaam's statement
is a beautiful picture of the separatedness, the sanctification,
the calling out of the people of God from amongst the wicked
in this world. The Lord's people are a separated
people. They are a sanctified people. They are sanctified in Christ. They are set apart in Him. They are called, called through
the preaching of the gospel, called into the union with the
Lord Jesus Christ, into the benefits and blessings of gospel, as the
Holy Spirit applies the work of Jesus Christ to their soul.
And let us never mix flesh and spirit. Let us never mix the
way in which the values of our age and the values of our time
and place endeavor to encroach upon our spiritual understanding.
Let's never mix up nationality with Christianity. Here, we have no continuing city,
but we seek one that is to come. We don't live amongst the nations. We're not numbered amongst the
nations. America's numbered amongst the
nations. Britain's numbered amongst the
nations. But the people of God are not. We are the people of God and
we're not numbered amongst the nations. We're a spiritual people,
a called out people, a set apart people, a sanctified people. The Lord says of his disciples,
and he's speaking about the whole church, they are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. John 17, 16. And again in 1 John,
chapter 2, verse 15. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Okay, what was the next? So Balak says, oh, that won't
do, Balaam. That won't do. Come on, I'll
take you to another mountain and we'll go up there and I'll
show you these people again and give me another. Statement. Another prophecy. Interestingly
enough, he's never actually called a prophet in these passages,
so we won't call him a prophet. But give us another statement. Give us another saying. Look
at verse 18. So Balaam took up his parable
and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear. Hearken unto me, thou son
of Zippor. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. What Balak's
talking about there, what Balaam is talking about there, I'm sorry,
is the fact that the Lord God is a covenant God. Once he's
made his promises, he keeps his promises. Once he's made his
statement, he keeps his statements. Once he's blessed the people,
he can never curse them. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The Lord his God is with him,
and the shout of a king is amongst them. God brought them out of
Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel. What hath God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise
up as a great lion and lift up himself as a young lion. He shall
not lie down until he eat of the prey and drink the blood
of the slain. One thought from this statement. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is amongst them. I don't know that there is A
more wonderful statement in the whole of scripture than that
statement that Balaam just made. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. It's an amazing statement. Who's
Jacob? Jacob who deceived his own father. Jacob, that supplanter. God sees all. God knows exactly
the kind of man that Jacob was. God knows exactly the kind of
people that Israel is. What can this possibly mean that
he sees no iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel? It means this, that God sees
no sin in his people. because he has taken that sin
and he has placed it upon the shoulders of their substitute. This is gospel. This drips gospel,
pure and simple. God sees no sin because Christ
has taken it all away. And God does not impute sin to
those who are in Christ. Rather, he imputes righteousness
to them. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness. And when God looks upon his people,
he does not see sin. He does not behold iniquity in
Jacob. He does not see perverseness
in Israel. It's a tremendous gospel truth.
because we have been made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice
for us. Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20,
there is a re-echoing of this sentiment. Jeremiah, a prophet
many years later, would write, in that time, saith the Lord,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. They'll go looking
for it. God will send out the angels
and he'll say, go over the whole world and find me one single
sin that applies to the people of God. One single iniquity that
the people of God are accountable for. In that time, saith the
Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. In this statement that Balaam
made, he writes, a shout, of a king is amongst them. Emmanuel, God is with us. The Lord is with his people.
Christ is with his people to protect them. Balaam knew that
he didn't have a thing to say that would in any way help or
encourage Balak. The shout of a king is amongst
them. What is the shout of the king?
What is the shout of King Jesus? What is the shout but victory? Victory. It is finished, it is
accomplished, it is done. He has the victory. The Lord
Jesus Christ has taken away the sins of his people. They are
pardoned. They will never more be remembered
against them. He will see no sin in his people. And that shout is the shout of
the gospel. It is the shout of the gospel,
the shout of a work accomplished, of a salvation achieved, of a
way of access to God opened. Those who teach and preach the
gospel as an invitation, as an offer, as something to be accepted
if you think about it long enough and decide that you want to go
that way, have no idea what the gospel is about. A shout of a
king is amongst these people. And that shout is that he has
done it and he has saved his people from their sins. The third thing that Balaam said
was found in verse 9 of chapter 24. Look at verse 5. He begins again
by making his statement, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob!
and thy tabernacles, O Israel." Belak brought him to the top
of the mountain and he said, look at them all encamped down
there. Now will you curse them for me, Balaam? Will you curse
them at least once? And Balaam says, how goodly are
thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. You've got really lovely
tents. As the valleys are they spread
forth, as gardens by the riverside, as the trees of lying aloes,
which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the
waters. He shall pour the water out of
his buckets, and his sheep shall be in many waters. and his king
shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought them forth out of
Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength
of a unicorn. He shall eat up the nations,
his enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through
with arrows. He couched, he laid down as a
lion and as a great lion. Who shall stir him? Blessed is
he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee." Balak
had nothing. Balak had nothing out of his
day's efforts. Okay, one thought. I'm really
being very disciplined here. One thought from this prophecy
too. Verse nine, he couched, he laid
down as a lion. And as a great lion, who shall
stir him? Blessed is he that blesseth thee,
and cursed is he that curseth thee. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the only possible one in view here. It's speaking about singular. He is the lion of Judah. In Revelation 5 verse 5, John
the Apostle says this, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed. And if he has
prevailed, then he is prevailing now. The Lord Jesus Christ has
prevailed. The Lion of Judah has prevailed.
He has prevailed to save his people. He has prevailed in carrying
their sin. He has prevailed by redeeming
their lives. He has prevailed to accomplish
their salvation. He has brought life to them. Blessed is he that blesseth thee. We bless the Lord, do we not?
We bless Him in our worship. We've been reading in the Beatitudes,
blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the pure in heart,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.
These are spiritual characteristics, spiritual qualities that apply
to the people of God. We bless Him and are blessed
by Him. Because we are blessed by Him,
we bless Him. There is a reciprocal relationship
going on here. This people that have been won,
this people that have been delivered and saved, this people for whom
He couched, He came down He crouched down. He became humble. He became a man. He humbled himself
and he went the way of the cross. That great lion, that lion of
Judah, that one who is the great God, the eternal majesty became
a man and he went to the cross. And who shall stir him up? Lord
Jesus Christ is that great Redeemer and deliverer has gone to the
cross for his people. He has bled and he has died.
And he blesses his people, and they bless him. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. The psalmist says in 103 verse
1, and cursed is he that curseth thee. all who will not trust
the Lord Jesus Christ, all who will not come to the Lord Jesus
Christ and worship him. Matthew 25 verse 41 says, then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me
ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. Look at verse 16 of chapter 24. Balaam speaks again. He hath
said, which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of
the Most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty falling
into a trance, but having his eyes open, I shall see him but
not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of
Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite
the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth. And
Edom shall be a possession. Seir also shall be a possession
for his enemies, and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall
come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth
of the city. I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of
Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. As the Lord Jesus
Christ was the lion, So the Lord Jesus Christ is the star. He
is the star that has come out of Jacob and he is the scepter,
he is the royal personage that has come out of Israel. Revelation
22 verse 16 says, I am the root and the offspring of David and
the bright and morning star. Pilate wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. Pilate and Balaam were both wicked
men and both testified to the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pilate didn't have the vocabulary that Balaam had. But O the testimony of the word
of God, come it from his church, or come it from devils and demons,
or come it from wicked men. Our God reigneth. I'm going to wrap this up now. A couple of things just to mention
in closing. Throughout scripture we encounter
something called the doctrine of Balaam. the doctrine of Balaam,
and it is a reference to these three chapters and the things
that happened. I've completely missed out an
aspect of what is going on here at this time, and Balak is given
some advice by Balaam. He can't curse them, he can't
do it, but he is given some advice by Balaam. Balaam says to Balak,
You need to get these men where their passions run hottest. You need to send in your prettiest
girls and you need to seduce these Israelites. You need to
bring out the wine and you need to entertain these people. You need to welcome them to your
feasts. You need to bring them to your
worship ceremonies. Balaam would not curse but he taught Balak how to corrupt
the children of Israel. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
lays the blame of what happens in chapter 25 squarely upon the
shoulders of Balaam. And we would not know the full
extent of this soothsayer's wickedness but for the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ himself speaks to the churches in Revelation and
says to the church at Pergamos of the doctrine of Balaam who
taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. That's not mentioned anywhere
in these three or four chapters, but it is mentioned in the book
of Revelation. And our corrupt passions, this
flesh in the world, is the way in which the devil attacks the
church of Jesus Christ. God sees no sin in his people,
The lion that came down has accomplished and achieved all things and has
become the scepter in his church. And all of the wonderful things
that Balaam was able to testify as far as the blessing of God
upon the people of his choice is concerned are there to see.
But the weak spot is our flesh and our passions. Our corrupt
passions tempt even God's children to commit sin. Fornication. Fornication. Well, I guess we're
mostly all adults. We've got a good idea what fornication
is about. But let me tell you that there
is another dimension to fornication in the Word of God, which is
even more grievous and aggressive. than the mere betrayal of one
person by another because of physical lust. Fornication is
running after false gods. It's committing adultery with
God. It's going after someone else
that looks more attractive than God. That's spiritual fornication. And yes, it has a natural equivalent. Are you offended when you hear
about and see fleshy fornication, fleshly adultery going on? Are you offended? Does it offend
you as one of the Lord's people? And what about the idolatry that
is going on in the world? What about the idolatry that
creeps into our own hearts and into our own lives? We think
that the sins of the flesh are so grievous to us as a society. These are just the judgments
of God on this world because of the true grievous sin of men
and women, which is that they have other gods before the one
true God. They break the first commandment
constantly. And God's anger in this world
is directed at false doctrine and is directed at idolatry and
is directed at all who steal his glory. What mercy is it then? that Jesus watches over His people. As He watched over the children
of Israel there in Numbers 22, 23 and 24, Jesus Christ still
looks over spiritual Israel and protects us and shields us and
hedges us in and gives us a deliverance from all the machinations and
all the deception and all of the fleshiness that is in this
world with its sin. What a blessing that God has
not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has seen perverseness
in Israel. What a blessing that the Lord,
our God, is with his church, and the shout of a king is still
amongst them. I say again, bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. The death of Balaam. The Bible
relates briefly on the death of Balaam. He had prayed this
prayer. Let me tell you what Balaam prayed.
From his own lips, he said in chapter 23, verse 10, let me
die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. That's an extraordinary request. That's an amazing statement.
Let me die the death of the righteous. Let me be a righteous man when
I face death. Let me die the death of the righteous. It was an extraordinary request,
but it was not to be. It is not of him that willeth
or of him that runneth. but it is God that gives the
blessing. In Joshua chapter 13, verse 22,
we read these words. Balaam also, the son of Beor,
the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword
among them that were slain by them. Balaam died amongst the
kings of the Midianites. Many there are that hope to go
to heaven. Many pray to go to heaven. Many appealed to God that they
might die the death of the righteous. But it is not the will of man
that makes us righteous. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the holiness of God. Balaam sought to be like the
people of God. But he is never amongst the people
of God. He never was. He was not on that
day, nor was he in the day of his death. He was among the kings
of the Midianites. When they slew them, they slew
him. Balaam sought to be like the
people of God. And you might like to be amongst
the people of God. And you might like to go to heaven,
and you might like to die the death of the righteous, but you
will not die the death of the righteous if you do not live
the life of the righteous. And you cannot live the life
of the righteous except by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their
righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Amen.